Equivalent-time sampling systems, such as those within oscilloscopes, are used to reconstruct the waveforms of electrical and optical signals. Within an equivalent-time sampling system, samples of an applied signal are acquired by a sampler. A time base within the equivalent-time sampling system establishes the timing of acquired samples. This allows reconstruction of a waveform of an applied signal. The reconstruction of the waveform can be displayed or stored for later use.
When reconstructing waveforms, it is sometimes desirable to perform linear feedforward equalization. A desired impulse response is achieved by use of uniformly spaced, weighted and summed samples from the input signal. The sampling durations used for sampling are typically identical and the tap spacing is commonly set to the bit period for digital data. For example, shift registers controlled by timing based on a data clock extracted from the input signal are typically used to provide the delay.